The death of Morthellus was quickly ruled a suicide. Apparently he had financial and family troubles that weighed heavily and saw no other way to escape his difficulties. These facts contrast with his excited demeanor at a conference we both attended in Thindar only a few weeks before his death. I spoke with him at length and he could not help hinting at the revelations his treatise would contain. He had located other pieces of the pyramid, at least one in the highlands of the Pearly Isle and many more in the Plains of Kresh. The latter fragments he tracked down only a month before the conference. He was completely reworking the treatise in light of this new information, and his haggard appearance reflected the intensity of his labors. Yet he was full of an energy and enthusiasm that could not be repressed, for he knew that he was on the verge of a great discovery.

On the Pearly Isle, Morthellus tracked down a document connecting artifacts of Laniros to the Plains of Kresh. He engaged Kreshtar guides at an exorbitant price. They led him to the vicinity of the Diamond Mist Falls but would go no further. This was the ancient homeland of the Niltami, of which the Kresh wanted no part. He continued on foot after exacting a promise that the guides would wait for three days. He found intact sections of the Great Pyramid, fit into an immense structure, then quickly returned to his guides. Morhellus would tell me no more. I felt uneasy even hearing this much of the story. Moving pieces of the pyramid to the Plains of Kresh seems almost as great a project as constructing it in the first place and indicates frightful power.

I have written elsewhere of the alliance between the Niltami and Jesophs sealed at the Diamond Mist Falls. What are they assembling near the Falls? And why did they kill Morthellus of Vaigollus to keep it a secret?